Plasma Production in ICRF in the Uragan-2M Stellarator in Hydrogen–Helium Gas Mixture

Abstract

Plasma production experiments in helium at Uragan-2M have been performed to investigate the role of the hydrogen minority in helium. The experiments presented here were carried on with a controlled minority hydrogen concentration. The hydrogen minority allowed one to increase plasma density more than three times as compared with pure helium. The obtained plasma density is highest for whole time of Uragan-2M operation. The developed scenario allowed to decrease the neutral gas pressure at which the plasma production is possible. This is a requirement for achieving regimes of plasma production with full ionization. Although the initial gas mixture 14%H₂ + 86%He can be treated as optimum, there is no sensitive dependence on hydrogen minority concentration, which makes the scenario robust. This study, together with initial LHD experiments, confirm the prospects of target plasma production by ICRF waves for stellarator type machines.